Major Averages Close In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - After seeing modest strength throughout much of morning trading on Thursday, stocks came under pressure in the afternoon. With the downturn on the day, the tech-heavy Nasdaq pulled back further off Tuesday's record closing high.

Computer hardware stocks showed a significant move to the downside as the day progressed, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 1.7 percent. With the loss, the index fell to its lowest closing level in well over two months.

Seagate Technology (STX) and Western Digital (WDC) turned in two of the hardware sector's worst performances, falling by 2.5 percent and 2 percent, respectively.

Considerable weakness was also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The weakness in the sector came as crude oil for August delivery fell $0.57 to $59.70 a barrel.

Natural gas, steel, and railroad stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, while most of the other major sectors showed more modest moves.

The major averages finished the session modestly lower. The Dow fell 75.71 points or 0.4 percent to 17,890.36, the Nasdaq edged down 10.22 points or 0.2 percent to 5,112.19 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.27 points or 0.3 percent to 2,102.31.